‘TALK ABOUT FIREARMS’: After the elementary school massacre on Friday in Newtown, Conn., politicians are speaking out about possible improvements on gun control and gun laws, but not all of it coming from the most obvious people.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) is an advocate for gun rights, accepts political contributions from pro-gun groups and is a member of the National Rifle Association — which also endorsed him in 2012 in his re-election bid. But today Manchin said it’s time to reopen the discussion about guns.

Although Manchin is a defender of the Second Amendment and is known for his hunting hobby — seen in a campaign ad when he fired a rifle at a copy of a cap-and-trade bill — he said the discussion about guns and safety needs to be taken seriously, and the NRA needs to be included in it.

Recently, Manchin also has been very vocal on his Twitter page. This morning, he tweeted, “This awful massacre has changed where we go from here. Our conversation should move beyond dialogue.” He also said, “Everything needs to be on the table, and I ask all my colleagues to sit down to talk about firearms, mental health and our culture.”

— Michelle Martinelli contributed this item.

TIM SCOTT TO REPLACE SEN. DEMINT: South Carolina’s Republican governor Nikki Haley will appoint Rep. Tim Scott (R – S.C.) to fill Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R – S.C.) seat. Scott has served one term as South Carolina’s First District representative and was elected to a second term last month after outspending challenger Bobbie Rose (D) eight-fold.

Scott’s leading industries in the 2012 cycle were insurance, real estate and health professionals, which combined gave him a combined $345,000 from both individuals and PACs, according to Center for Responsive Politics research. Scott’s leadership PAC spent $123,000 this cycle, $75,000 of which went exclusively to Republican Congressional candidates.

Goldman Sachs and Boeing were the top two contributors of his combined campaign committee and leadership PAC hauls last cycle, according to the Center’s research. Scott will be the first black senator from South Carolina since the nineteenth century.

— Reid Davenport contributed this item.

NRA’S OUTSIDE SPENDING: The National Rifle Association has not issued any comment since the shootings in Connecticut on Friday, but the group made a number of bold statements with its PAC and non-profit group in the form of independent expenditures. In total, the NRA’s various groups spent $17.6 million on independent expenditures this year, and more than 92 percent in the general election, apparently choosing not to get heavily involved with primary fights.

But, for the most part, those independent expenditures were not successful.

Besides the support for Romney, there were just six races that the NRA spent a significant sum of money (more than $100,000) to support a candidate — all Republicans — and of those, only two candidates actually won. The congressional candidate who received the most support from NRA independent expenditures was Indian GOP senate hopeful Richard Mourdock, who the NRA spent $587,000 supporting.

On the other side of the ledger, the NRA groups spent much bigger trying to defeat candidates. In total, NRA groups spent $8.9 million trying to defeat Obama, and more than $100,000 trying to defeat six Congressional candidates.

The only race they successfully spent to defeat a candidate was the primary between Mourdock and the incumbent Republican Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was the member of Congress that the NRA spent most heavily to unseat, spending $752,000 on independent expenditures against him.

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